Korean Air advances use of drone swarms in plane inspections

Flag carrier Korean Air is forging ahead with its trail blazing test program using drone swarms for inspection of its planes to measure wear of fuselage components, and detect any weaknesses or damage requiring repairs.

Though Korean Air initially announced its plan to develop drone swarms with the aim of incorporating them in its regular inspection of its passenger and cargo planes way back in 2021, the company has continued added increasing levels of sophistication and functionality to those activities. 

Use of drones in Korean Air’s maintenance, repair, and operation operations has been replicated by other major carriers since, notably Dutch flagship KLM, which has made swarm inspections a key focus of its routine craft oversight development.

Recent reports say Korean Air has enhanced early drone inspections from basic scans and analyses of data collected by nearby pilots, to automated functions enabled and improved by…